5 Reckless Uber Drivers Who Took to the Roads Like They Were Playing ‘Grand Theft Auto’
The prevalence of rideshare apps requires an underappreciated amount of blind faith in your fellow humans. It’s best to simply block out the fact that you’re climbing into a hurtling piece of metal piloted by someone who you’ve never met in your life. Sure, cabs have been around forever, but at least we could pretend that driving was their main job, so they had to be pretty good at it. Plus, they had that plastic shield, and that made everything feel official, and prevented us from seeing the pile of empty Red Bull cans that make you question just how long it’s been since they’ve slept.
It’s not like I’m going to stop taking them, but I’ve at least started wearing seatbelts. Here, though, are a few tales that might turn me off from them permanently…
You’re the Only One Who Should Be on YouTube
Texting and driving is a great way to have your last words be “on my way.” It’s unbelievably dangerous, and almost definitely not worth the text in question. Given that multitasking is basically a myth, it makes even less sense. Knowing how dangerous occasional glances can be, it stands to reason that watching YouTube videos is inadvisable. As is online shopping. Unless it’s for insulin that you need to pick up in the next 10 minutes, it can probably wait. Nevertheless, a passenger recorded their driver doing all of the above during a ride, even after a dramatic swerve wasn’t enough to stop the shopping spree.
High-Speed Chases Are More Fun to Watch Than Participate In
This ride started off ominously, with the driver talking to a “taxi inspector,” which until this moment I didn’t know was real, and feels like an occupation that would be referenced in a 1920s flimflam. They are real, but as the driver explained, “not real cops.” Things escalated quickly, with the driver running a red light and taking to the highway, with passengers now traveling well above the speed limit, and I would guess, not toward whatever Chipotle they’d put in the app.
Your Passenger Doesn’ t Want to “Hear That Kitty Purr”
If you’ve ever been picked up by a rideshare driver piloting a luxury vehicle, you might be thinking, “Man, this job pays better than you’d think”, instead of the correct response, “Oh my god, they’re going to be trapped in that predatory lease forever.” For some, piggybacking on a rideshare company’s need for their definitely-not-employees to have usable cars can net them a spiffy new dragster, one that they might want to test the limits of. If they want to stretch that baby’s legs, though, it’s best not to save time by doing it on their official rides, like the driver who was weaving in and out of traffic at 85 mph with a customer in tow. You could ask them to slow down, but there’s always the chance, as in this case, that they will tell you that “you need to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the ride.”
Driving Down A Railroad
It’s easy to get railroads and streets confused. Both of them are intended to transport vehicles, after all! Well, if you’re an alien, brand new to this earth, who’s just hatched from an egg and is being taught our strange ways. If you’re a normal human, they should be very obviously different things. The Redditor who tells the tale of the rideshare driver who confused them adds the caveat that he was “new to the area,” but unless that area is “Earth,” it’s still an absolutely wild choice.
Driving on a Sidewalk
The first lesson usually taught when learning to drive is to put your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel — something no one does ever again. I would argue there is another, unspoken lesson that should be made clear: Try not to have your vehicle where people who aren’t in vehicles are. Another story from Reddit recounts an Uber driver, frustrated by traffic, simply choosing to drive on the sidewalk. Of course there’s no traffic on the sidewalk, because that’s not where cars belong. It’s like looking at the sink in a public bathroom and wondering why anyone isn’t using that tall urinal. When they yelled to get off the sidewalk, he called it the “Uber lane.”
Pretty good bit, minus the manslaughter!